Simple Minds, Simple Politics

What a surprise: Republicans on the House-Senate supercommittee won’t allow a tax increase:

Republican aides tell NRO that while the final supercommittee plan is likely to include some form of new revenue as a way to win Democratic support, it will not involve tax increases of any kind, making it compatible with the [Grover Norquist] pledge. That is not to say that the pledge has any undue sway over Republican members, but rather that the party simply believes, as President Obama himself has argued, “you don’t raise taxes in a recession.”

Norquist or no Norquist, recession or no recession, budget crisis or no budget crisis, Republicans will never agree to raise taxes (at least on the rich) — and here’s why:

If Republicans were to agree to raise taxes, they’d be conceding that their simple-minded “free market” policies won’t solve every problem. This would undercut the party’s messaging and force GOP candidates to actually think about stuff rather than merely regurgitate a few slogans.

And it will never happen, because in case you haven’t noticed, not every member of the House Republican caucus is a brain surgeon. For example:

It’s hard enough to recruit decent Republican candidates without having to beat the bushes for smart ones. So why mess with a good thing by needlessly complicating a simple message that’s been getting morons like Louie Gohmert elected for years?